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Adding a SQL Target Environment – Made Easy

By Uday Kumar posted 11-02-2015 02:26:06 PM

  


You all know how easy it is to add target environments for RDBMS like Oracle. MSSQL Server Target is easy too but with a twist. Starting Version 4.3 Delphix Supports both Standalone Targets as well Windows Server Failover Cluster or Microsoft Cluster Server Targets. We will address how to add those environments herein.

 


                                            STANDALONE TARGET:                                                        

Step 1: Prereqs:

Windows Target Delphix Prereqs need to be met. Details can be found from below URL.

https://docs.delphix.com/display/DOCS43/Requirements+for+SQL+Server+Target+Hosts+and+Databases

Commonly seen issues and questions:

·      Make sure iSCSI initiator service and Oracle Connector service’s are running and auto start        while server reboots.

·      Delphix Connector needs to be installed on Staging & Target environments, no need to                install on production source environment

·      Delphix does not support running SQL Server instances as local user accounts and it needs        to be either domain account or local service account

·      Windows user must have server role sysadmin and also ‘Log on as a batch job’

·      SQL Server instance on the target host should be the same version or higher than                        the instance hosting the source database

·      Delphix target host must have 64-bit Windows as the operating system and not 32-bit

 

Step 2: Install Delphix Connector:

Windows target environments must have the Delphix Connector installed, and must be registered with the Delphix Engine from the host, itself. Download and install the Delphix Connector on the host you wish to add as a target by navigating to Delphix Engine GUI under Manage=> Environments => Add Environment (Click ‘+’) => Select ‘Windows’ => Select ‘Target’ => Select “Standalone” => Download “Delphix Connector Installer”.


 

 

Copy downloaded msi file to the Windows Target Server and the Run the msi to get Delphix Connector installation to guide you through the rest of the steps.  Make sure this service runs on this server always.

 

Step 3: Adding Target Host:

 

On target server, using windows command prompt as admin go to the installed directory of the Delphix Connector and locate addhostgui.cmd under <connector_home>\DelphixConnector\connector.

  

Run that script as above and a GUI windows pops up. Provide the details required which includes the Target Server Login Credentials and the Delphix Engine user credentials. Press Add.

 

 

You can see the job running on Delphix GUI Interface. You are all set.

 

Zooming in to the Job Actions section......


 

Once Completed Successfully.


 

Step 4: Verify

Login back to Delphix GUI and to Manage=> Environments and make sure that your Windows Target Host is added here. If any errors are reported in Actions Window, resolve it and follow the same steps to add Target Host.

 

 

                                         WINDOWS CLUSTER TARGET:                                                          

Step 1: Prereqs:

a)    All Windows Target Delphix Prereqs need to be met. Delphix only support Windows Server Failover cluster (WSFC) and not Availability Groups (AG) on Target , unlike Delphix supports both options on Source.

Details can be found from below URL.

https://docs.delphix.com/display/DOCS43/Requirements+for+SQL+Server+Target+Hosts+and+Databases

b)   Make sure that each clustered SQL Server instance must have at least one clustered disk with drive letter assigned and GUID partition style added to the clustered instance resource group for mounting by Delphix

c)    Additionally Connector Target Environment node is needed which should not be part of the Target Cluster nodes.

d)   VDBs cannot be provisioned to Availability Group clusters

e)    SQL Server Failover Cluster instances for Staging is not supported

f)     Doesn’t support versions prior to 2008 for both Windows & SQL Server

 

Step 2: Adding Target Host: 

a)    Add each node in the Window Failover Cluster individually as a standalone target environment (Follow above Steps on how to add Standalone Target Environment)

b)   Now Add Cluster Target Environment by logging on to Delphix GUI and under Manage=> Environments => Add Environment (Click ‘+’) => Select ‘Windows’ => Select ‘Target’ => Select “Cluster”

 

 

c)    Provide the details required which includes the Cluster Host Name (a screenshot from Windows Failover Cluster Manger is provided below), OS Username and password. Validate and Click OK. You can see the job running on Delphix GUI Interface. You are all set.

 

 

Step 3: Verify

Login back to Delphix GUI and to Manage=> Environments and make sure that your Windows Cluster Target is added here. If any errors are reported in Actions Window, resolve it and follow the same steps to add Cluster Target Host.

 

Step 4: VDB Provisioning

Explore and reap the benefits by provisioning Virtual Databases.

 

 

References:

https://docs.delphix.com/display/DOCS43/Adding+a+SQL+Server+Target+Environment 

https://docs.delphix.com/display/DOCS43/Adding+a+SQL+Server+Failover+Cluster+Target+Environment

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